Journal Entry #5: Specialization

Specialization:

The problem of specialization was a debate I found worthy of discussion because it was a cultural debate aswell as an academic debate. David Easton argues that specialization has hindered one's abilities to develop common knowledge. Easton believes that specialization pinpoints a certain field of study, and by doing so he claims it almost forces a student to avoid those subjects outside the said field. He relates this to Humpty Dumpty by saying that since knowledge is no longer general, people cannot solve real life problems. The editor Bruce McComiskey also believes that specialization devaules more general courses because a person will look forward to the more specialized course while the remaining will seem like uninteresting required courses. I strongly concuer with Easton, I think that specialization, while making a student expert in one subject, it weakens them in all other subjects. Students should be required to take classes in a multitude of fields, while most of the courses should be geared toward a major.